Have you ever noticed that when some team or some person beats you in something lately, the winning team soon has some scandal rise up to tarnish that record? First, it was Southern California’s alleged use of ineligible players in its 1996 Rose Bowl win over Northwestern. The result stood after a thorough investigation.

The next and most recent one hit a little closer to home here at Iowa State. Byron Hanspard, hotshot running back at Texas Tech and winner of this past season’s Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back over our own Troy Davis, was reported in this Sunday’s Houston Chronicle to have finished this past fall semester with a 0.00 grade point average, along with offensive lineman Casey Jones.

0.00 GPA? What in the name of Jim Walden is going on here? Hanspard, a Pentecostal minister in his spare time when he wasn’t supposedly going to class and football, achieves a 0.00 GPA for the semester.

Apparently this isn’t new at our fellow Big 12 school.

The Red Raider football program is under NCAA scrutiny right now, and many faculty members at Texas Tech have been concerned over players expecting special treatment or simply missing the classes altogether.

How did this happen?

As most of us are well aware, simply showing up to class earns at least a little credit, but Hanspard didn’t even seem to do that much. No wonder he declared himself eligible for the NFL draft the day after Tech was crushed by Iowa 27-0 in the Alamo Bowl.

To top it all off, everyone involved in the Red Raider football program doesn’t seem to care about this happening.

Head Coach Spike Dykes, recently named Big 12 Coach of the Year, admitted there were players with 0.00 GPAs who played in bowl games in the past. However, he said, this is allowed by the NCAA and is common “at every university I know of.”

When asked if Texas Tech has a policy regarding this matter, Dykes would only say that a “recommendation” has been made at some point.

However, some current and former employees at the university said that such a policy, which stated a player could not participate in a bowl without passing at least six credit hours in the fall semester, was in effect during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, the Chronicle’s report said.

Regardless of the institutional support and/or lack of concern about the athlete’s academic well-being, Hanspard, being the man of God he says he is, at least should have shown some initiative and taken care of himself in the classroom. He said God told him to attend Texas Tech, then told him later to leave for the NFL.

Being a Christian myself, I can see somewhat where he’s coming from. However, that still does not excuse him from being lazy and not attending his classes. The Bible even tells us in several verses to work hard in everything we do.

Mr. Hanspard, though the damage has been done here, I just pray you have thought about what has happened here and work to make it better in the future.

Rob Daniel is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Zion, Ill.